


Call Waiting

by therunawaypen



Series: Avengers Tumblr Prompt Fills [20]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Drama, Loki's in danger too, M/M, Protective Jarvis, Tony goes to save Pepper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-01-20 16:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1517942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therunawaypen/pseuds/therunawaypen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Pepper in danger, Tony can't waste time with Loki's repeated calls, so he tells JARVIS to screen the god of mischief's calls.</p><p>But Loki isn't calling for fun. And Pepper isn't the only one in danger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Can I have a frostiron fill? Iron man is way to save Pepper from some villain, so it rejects the call from Loki. That might have been the worst mistake he could make at that time as Loki needed him too. Thanks for your work and the time you take to the prompts. Bye! —anon

“ _Sir, it would appear that mister Laufeyson is calling.”_

“Little busy right now, JARVIS.”

Tony was sure he was breaking the sound barrier as he flew across cities and possibly some of the smaller states. After receiving a message from Doctor Doom that the man had managed to get his hands on Pepper while she had been on a business trip, Tony had all but dropped everything to suit up and fly to save her. Because what else could he do when challenged by a maniac like that?

But still, it was hard to focus on a rescue plan when JARVIS kept chirping in his ear about incoming calls from Loki. How the god of mischief learned how to get JARVIS to call Tony, he had no idea, but he didn’t have time to talk.

When the notice of Loki calling appeared on his visor once again, Tony let out a frustrated growl, “JARVIS, tell Loki that I’m busy at the moment! I do not have time for this!”

_“Sir, I would strongly suggest—”_

“JARVIS, Pepper is in danger, I cannot be distracted by you and Loki right now!” Tony snapped, “Put Loki’s calls on hold!”

_“Sir—”_

“Now!”

_“Of course, sir…”_

* * *

 

_“Master Stark is not answering any calls.”_

Loki could feel ice running through his veins as he raced through the numerous hallways of Stark Tower, “Please, JARVIS, call him again!”

_“He has placed all your calls on hold.”_

If Loki didn’t know better (and then again, he might not have known better), he would have thought that the walls were closing in on him. And when he sensed the ever darkening presence creeping up behind him, he had to remind himself that he was not alone. Already, he could feel the numb feeling that he had only felt during his time under the Tesseract’s power begin to seep into his body once more.

They had found him. And Loki knew that he would be punished for his failure with the Chitauri.

Loki sprinted down the hallway, the unknown force right behind him, he was desperate. His magic was already dampened, leaving him powerless in the confines of the tower, “JARVIS, please help me!”

The AI system only hesitated for a moment, “ _Please make your way to the elevator, I’ll make sure you get to Master Stark’s workshop. It’s the most secure room in the tower.”_

The god of mischief didn’t need to be told twice, making a beeline for the elevator. His heart was racing as he frantically waited for the doors to close, his doom racing towards the slowly closing doors. It was only when the doors were firmly shut and JARVIS began to lower the elevator that Loki let out the breath he was holding.

_“I shall make sure the workshop is locked down upon your arrival, as well as call for he—”_

The AI’s sentence was cut off with a sickening crunch of metal and circuits. The lights in the elevator went dark, and Loki’s heart stopped, his breath caught in his throat.

A breath that only freed itself in the form of a blood-curdling scream as the elevator plummeted to the Earth.


	2. Chapter 2

“You know, I don’t know which is worse: the fact that being kidnapped is becoming a regular thing, or that I’m becoming used to it.” Pepper sighed, hanging on to Tony as they flew back to the Avengers’ Tower.

“Yeah, it’s getting a bit annoying having to rescue you all the time.”

Pepper rolled her eyes, “If you weren’t wearing the suit, I’d smack you.”

Tony chuckled, “Well it’s a good thing I have the suit then. Plus it was the thing that saved you from Doctor Crazy—”

“Tony!”

“Alright, alright.” Tony slowed down as they approached the tower, “Seriously though, I am glad you’re alright.” He smiled beneath his visor as they landed on the balcony. Letting Pepper go, Tony waited for JARVIS to begin the “de-suiting” process.

When nothing happened, Tony raised a curious eyebrow, “Anytime now, JARVIS. This thing is starting to chafe.”

_“I’m afraid my connection with the Tower has been broken.”_

Tony frowned, looking at Pepper before continuing, “What do you mean, you aren’t connected to the Tower? Your servers are in there.”

_“My servers have been damaged. I am running only primary functions.”_

That got Tony alarmed, “Your servers are damaged…” he muttered, making his way from the balcony to inside the Tower, with Pepper right behind him.

Only to find that JARVIS’s servers weren’t the only things that were damaged.

“Oh my god…” Pepper whispered as she looked around at the destroyed interior of the room.

Tony was busy searching the other rooms, finding the same extent of damage within, “JARVIS, what the hell happened in here? Did Loki do this?” He wouldn’t put it past the god of mischief to pull something to get back at Tony for ignoring him, but he never imagined that he would trash the place.

_“Mister Laufeyson is not responsible for this. Most likely, the cause of the damage is the same force that was persuing him.”_

That gave Tony cause to pause, “What are you talking about?”

_“When Mister Laufeyson was calling you, he was attempting to flee the same force that had been behind his Tesseract poisoning. He was quite distressed…”_

“Loki doesn’t get “distressed,”” Tony argued, trying to ignore the growing dread in his stomach, “He can take care of himself…he’s a Norse god…”

_“He mentioned that his powers were bound by the force…though my servers were destroyed sometime after that. I do not know where Mister Laufeyson is…I think the elevator?”_

“You think…” Tony’s blood was already running cold as he flew to the elevator. It was a good thing he still had his suit on, because he needed its strength to force the doors open. Of course, seeing evidence of the elevator’s rapid decent only made Tony all the more sick to his stomach. “Damnit Loki, where the hell are you?”

* * *

 

It hurt breathe. It hurt to move. It hurt to think, or to open his eyes, or even hope that he could escape. Loki spit up another mouthful of blood as he tried once more to fill his lungs with air. It may of hurt, but it still needed to be done.

Loki couldn’t have moved his broken body even if he wanted to, with shackles binding his wrists and ankles. And even if he could have moved, he couldn’t have escaped the dark presence looming over him.

 _“You thought you could escape me after your failure?”_ It hissed down at him, “ _That you could escape your punishment?”_

Deep down, Loki knew he could have never escaped.

But he had hoped.


	3. Chapter 3

Loki didn’t know how much time had passed since his abduction. Then again, it was probably better that way. It was better not knowing how long he had been gone for, how long he had been separated from Tony, how long he had been tortured…how long until he died…

He knew that his death would not be swift, his captor would never be so merciful. And while Loki had long since prepared himself for the painful end, he still wished that he could have said goodbye to Tony…

_I hope Tony was at least able to save Miss Potts…I liked her…_

Loki couldn’t see, his eyes long since swollen shut from his numerous beatings, but he could hear just fine. So hear his bones crunching under the violent hands of his captor, the heavy hiss of his voice in his ear, his own screams and moans of pain.

And also the distant sounds of thunder.

There was a part of Loki that could have sobbed with relief. He knew that he wasn’t on Midgard, and therefore thunder could not be excused as a simple atmospheric phenomenon. Which left only one possible explanation, though Loki didn’t dare hope…

Though after hearing an all too familiar voice booming through the abyss, Loki nearly laughed in hysterics. After so many centuries of finding Thor’s voice and mannerisms annoying and brutish, but now it seemed like sweet escape. Even as he felt the god of thunder roughly grab him and jostle his injuries (gentle and Thor never did go hand in hand), Loki couldn’t help but feel relieved.

“You’re crushing me…you brute…” Loki groaned as Thor held him tight.

“I apologize brother, but we must make haste in our escape.” Thor boomed, and not even a moment later, Loki could feel the pull of Hiemdall activating the bridge.

Loki still couldn’t see where he was, but he honestly didn’t care, “How did you find me?”

“Friend Stark alerted me of your disappearance, and you know Hiemdall sees all.” Thor replied, “Though I fear your captor will let your escape go unpunished.”

“He’ll come for me again,” Loki spit up a mouthful of mouth, “He won’t rest until I am dead and he has Midgard.”

“Then we shall be ready for him.” Thor said firmly, “We shall not rest until this threat is gone for good.”

* * *

 

To say Tony was brooding would have been an understatement. Of course, he was trying to hide his brooding by working furiously to rebuild JARVIS’s servers. The fact that there was an empty bottle of scotch didn’t help Tony’s case in the slightest.

“I should have been there…” he muttered to himself, connecting wires.

 _“Sir, there was no way you could have anticipated an attack.”_ JARVIS replied, though through his damaged speakers, his voice was tinny and warped. At the moment, he sounded more like he could have been the devil than a posh British butler.

“No, but Loki _tried_ to call, and I ignored him.” Tony hung his head. He needed another drink…

He could hear the sound of Pepper’s heels against the concrete before he could see her out of the corner of his eye, let alone hear her voice, “I’ll take it from here, JARVIS.” Pepper sighed, sitting beside the genius, “This isn’t your fault, Tony…”

“I left Loki at the mercy, or lack thereof, of the same monster that released the Chitauri on New York using Loki as a puppet!” Tony fisted his hands in his hair, “Even now, I can’t go save him! Thor’s out there playing hero!”

“Last time you did space travel, it nearly killed you.” Pepper said firmly, “And you had no way of finding Loki, Thor did. Just because you’re not the one kicking in doors and punching in faces does not mean you are not helping. Right now, the priority is getting Loki back and keeping him safe.”

Tony didn’t say anything, keeping his head down. Pepper sighed, placing a hand on Tony’s back, “I know you love him, Tony, and you always did hate being helpless.”

“Damn straight. And I won’t be helpless again. Not when it comes to Loki.”


	4. Chapter 4

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin when thunder sounded outside Avengers’ Tower, racing up to the rooftop where Thor would inevitably be arriving. It was all Pepper could do to keep up.

The arrival of the god of thunder was a tense one, and Tony’s blood ran cold when he saw Loki’s broken body hanging limply from Thor’s cradled arms.

“Oh my god…” Pepper whispered, standing frozen in shock.

Tony, however, was not as stunned. He rushed to Thor’s side, desperate to see Loki, “Did…whatever it is, do this to Loki?”

Thor nodded, “Aye, my brother was in very poor shape when I found him. Though I am sure he will recover soon. He is of Asgard, after all.”

“I thought he was adopted.” Tony muttered halfheartedly, leading Thor to a bedroom where he could lay Loki.

The bedsheets were instantly stained with blood, but Tony couldn’t have cared less at that moment. All he cared about in that moment was Loki.

“Should we call a doctor?” Pepper murmured, watching Loki from the doorway.

“I doubt they know how to handle an immortal.” Tony shook his head, reaching out hesitantly to touch Loki’s hair.

Thor sighed, “I will return to Asgard to fetch someone to help with some of his more crucial wounds. I will return shortly, for we must prepare for the battle we will no doubt have to fight.”

“You do that.” Tony replied, “I’ll work on rallying the troops here.”

The thunderer gave one last look to his younger brother before he turned and left the room. It wasn’t long until the sound of thunder was heard once more.

“I guess it’s time to find the Avengers.” Tony muttered, “I can give Bruce a call, and Steve, Nat, and Clint are at S.H.I.E.L.D., so they should be—”

“Tony.”

The genius stopped, looking back at Pepper. The CEO was looking at her phone, which had rung with an alert, “Tony, you need to see this.”

Tony was about to tell JARVIS to put whatever was on Pepper’s phone on the big screen, but remembered that his AI was temporarily out of commission. So he had to make due with looking at the small smartphone.

Blinking at the news report playing out on Pepper’s phone, Tony felt a chill run down his spine, “Damnit Cap…I leave you alone for a few months, and  _this_  is what you do?”

He shook his head, “Pepper, I need you to try and get in contact with someone from S.H.I.E.L.D., there has to be  _someone_  who can get in contact with Cap, Nat, and Clint.”

Pepper nodded, rushing off to make phone calls (or whatever Pepper did to make everything work out perfectly). But Tony couldn’t bring himself to think about all the planning that would need to be done, or the battle that was ahead of them. All Tony could think of was the broken body lying on the bed.

He let out a tired sigh, sinking onto the bed next to Loki. “I’m so sorry, Loki…” He hung his head, “I’m always screwing things up…and people keep getting hurt…”

A low groan filled the room, alerting Tony to the fact that Loki was regaining consciousness. The god of mischief opened one green eye slowly (the other was swollen shut), unfocused and bleary with pain. “…’thny?”

“I’m here, Loki.” Tony hesitantly touched Loki’s hand, not wanting to hurt Loki any more than he was already injured.

A shallow breath passed through Loki’s lips, “Is…Miss Potts alright?”


End file.
